Report: VW plans complete Porsche buy

WOLFSBURG, Germany, July 18 (UPI) -- German automaker Volkswagen is planning a complete acquisition of sports car manufacturer Porsche, sources say.

The German magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed sources, reported Saturday that rather than purchase just 49.9 percent of the struggling Stuttgart, Germany, sports car maker as had already been reported, Volkswagen is laying plans to purchase the entire company using a pair of financial transactions.

Der Spiegel said Volkswagen would make Porsche its 10th brand by first purchasing 50 percent of Porsche Automobil Holding, and then following that up with a buy-out of the remaining shares in a second deal.

The report said Volkswagen, of Wolfsburg, Germany, will pay $11.3 billion for Porsche, enabling the sports car company to extinguish its burdensome debts, and is also reportedly considering acquiring Porsche's network of dealerships for $4.2 billion.

The acquisition would end a power struggle between the German companies that saw Porsche fail in its attempts to buy VW through a leverage-heavy maneuver that collapsed when credit markets dried up, Der Spiegel said.